Birmingham Zoo

The 56 kW project was installed on the pergola in the Hugh Kaul Children’s Zoo at the Birmingham Zoo as part of a demonstration, education and research project about solar energy. Alabama Power receives the energy produced by the solar panels from this grid-tied system. The Birmingham Zoo will receive renewable energy credits (RECs) from Alabama Power so that a portion of the zoo’s energy consumption will be from “green energy” sources.

Key Project Attribute:

The solar panels were donated by Enel Green Power North America, Inc.’s subsidiaries “Chisholm View Wind Project, LLC”, that owns a 235-megawatt wind farm located in Grant and Garfield Counties, Oklahoma, and “Buffalo Dunes Wind Project, LLC”, that owns a 250-megawatt wind farm in Finney, Grant and Haskell Counties, Kansas.

The Chisholm View and Buffalo Dunes wind farms, owned and operated by Enel Green Power North America, were developed by Tradewind Energy, Inc. and produce energy for Alabama Power.

Alabama Power can use the energy from the two projects as renewable energy for customers and retire the environmental attributes, or sell the energy and the environmental attributes, separately or bundled together, to third parties for the benefit of Alabama Power customers.

Alabama Power has provided an educational kiosk to the zoo. At the kiosk, zoo visitors can monitor the energy generated by the zoo solar system, as well as energy generated at other Alabama Power renewable energy research sites.

Alabama Power will collect data from the project so it can keep customers informed about the efficiency of solar energy systems operating in real-world conditions in Alabama.